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Friday, May 6, 2016

広島平和記念公園 Heiwa Kinen Koen - Where Time Stands Still...

From Miyajima, we headed back to Hiroshima city to explore the Hiroshima Heiwa Kinen Koen or the Hiroshima Peace Park in the city centre - the area that bore the brunt of that fateful atomic bombing on August 6, 1945...

On the ferry returning back to Hiroden-Miyajimaguchi, from where we took the tramcar to get us to Tokaichimachi Station. A short walk from the tramcar station brought us to the park...

Walking through the Nekoyacho neighbourhood on the way to the park, we came across this interesting spa...

Being a rainy day, the streets were pretty empty...

Crossing the bridge over the Ota River to head to the park...

And here we are, as we enter the park...

The site of the Nakajima District that was completely obliterated in the bombing on August 6, 1945...

A layout of the park...

The park looks so peaceful today...

But this was the site of the horrific miseries that came in the aftermath of the bombing...

Sculpture titled Prayer for Peace...

The Flame of Peace monument - the monument represents two hands pressed together at the wrist and bent back with the palms facing to the sky, with a flame in the centre...

The monument expresses anguish over the fate of the victims being unable to satisfy their thirst for water, as well as the desire for world peace...

The flame has burned continuously since it was lit on August 1, 1964...

A view of the Cenotaph from the Flame of Peace monument...

A view of the Genbaku Dome - hope to visit the dome later in the evening...

At the Children's Peace Monument...

The monument was inspired by the story of a little girl from Hiroshima - Sadako Sasaki, who was exposed to atomic radiation at age of two, and contracted leukemia ten years later and died. Shocked by her death, her classmates led a campaign to build a monument to mourn the children who died in the atomic bombing. With the support of students in more than 3,100 schools around Japan and in nine other countries, including England, they were able to build this bronze statue that stands nine meters high...

On the top of the three-legged pedestal stands the bronze figure of a girl holding up a gold-colored "folded" crane. On opposite sides of the pedestal are suspended boy and girl figures symbolizing a bright future and hope...

A gold crane modeled after an ancient bronze bell hung under the bell inside the tower...

On the stone underneath the pedestal is inscribed, "This is our cry. This is our prayer. For building peace in this world"...

Origami cranes next to the monument...

Indeed there are heart-numbing and gut-wrenching stories all around this place...